In many areas of electronics, sensor technology and microsystems engineering, the production requirements result in an urge towards miniaturization and increase in productivity by joining together subsystems in more highly integrated structures. The trend towards more highly integrated and compact designs that can be used, for example, in smart cards, has already led to the use of components which are arranged directly on the modules. Such modules are, for example, contactless modules of the known type series MCC2, MOA2 or MCC. In these modules, the integrated circuit or the chip is contact-connected by means of so-called wire bonds and is encapsulated by a plastic molding material. For structural reasons, this type of integration leads to a larger overall module thickness and makes integration into a smart card module more difficult.
Known contactless smart card modules, such as the MFCC1 module, have chips that are contact-connected to NiAu contacts by flip-chip mounting. In flip-chip mounting, the chip is mounted with the active contact-making side facing downward towards the substrate or circuit carrier. As a result, there is no need for the chip to be covered. Consequently, the total thickness of the smart card module is determined solely by the chip thickness. However, such a contactless smart card module is highly susceptible to mechanical loading and has little flexibility in the stiffness of the module due to the small chip thickness.
Another known method of mounting the chip is frame adhesive bonding. A desired stabilization or stiffening of the module may be achieved through this method. In frame adhesive bonding, a chip is adhesively bonded to the leadframe before further processing. However, the adhesive affects the total thickness of the module. In addition, delamination may occur between the chip and the leadframe.
Another known method is to adhesively bond the chip onto a steel plate having a thickness of approximately 120 μm. However, the active surface of the chip remains unprotected and, during further processing, an antenna has to be directly applied onto the chip in order to be contact-connected to the module. Therefore, a need exists for a smart card module that is thin and robust as well as cost-effective.